Top guests confirmed as popular BBC show announces Christmas special and new series

ONE of the BBC’s most popular shows has confirmed some top guest stars for its Christmas special and new series, the British Broadcasting Corporation announced.

Death in Paradise, the popular BBC detective comedy-drama set in the Caribbean, has announced some top guests for its upcoming Christmas special and new series.

The BBC confirmed that Les Dennis (Coronation Street) and Siobhan McSweeney (Derry Girls) will spend Christmas in the Caribbean as they join the Death in Paradise series regulars for the BBC crime drama’s second-ever festive feature-length special.

The Christmas special starring regulars Ralf Little (D.I Neville Parker), Don Warrington (Commissioner Selwyn Patterson), Élizabeth Bourgine (Catherine Bordey) Tahj Miles (Officer Marlon Pryce), Shantol Jackson (D.S Naomi Thomas) and Ginny Holder (Darlene Curtis) will air later this year on BBC One and iPlayer.

The BBC also announced some guests for the new series.

“The rating winner also welcomes an array of stellar guest stars to its sandy shores throughout the Christmas special and new series, including Chelsea Edge (I Hate Suzie), Robert Webb (Peep Show), Hakeem Kae-Kazim (Black Sails), Jo Martin (Doctor Who), Christopher Villiers (Top Secret!), Kevin Eldon (Sanditon), Amit Shah (Happy Valley), Jo Hartley (After Life), Barney Walsh (The Larkins), John Michie (Coronation Street), Fiona Button (The Split), Okorie Chukwu (Kate & Koji), Gamba Cole (The Outlaws), Cara Theobald (Downton Abbey) and more,” it said.

Speaking about the end of the last season, the Beeb wrote: “As Death in Paradise continues into its twelfth year – providing some much-needed escapism with its glistening seas and bright blue skies – the award-winning murder mystery will see Saint Marie’s crack squad of crime solving stars investigating even more baffling and brainteasing cases.

“The end of the last series saw Selwyn hit with a bombshell from the blue, leaving fans eager to see how the Commissioner will come to terms with the knowledge that he has a daughter…

“Christmas in Saint Marie takes a spooky turn this year when an old case of Selwyn’s comes back to haunt him following the murder of a true crime podcaster on the hunt for a missing child. Marlon is forced to spend the night in a haunted house and Darlene takes a hard look at her life choices. And after a chance encounter in an airport car park, could love finally be in the air for Neville Parker?”

Outlining some of the storylines planned for the new season, the BBC said: “The new series kicks off with the mysterious death of a celebrity astronomer and a change of job for Darlene.

“We also meet a bunch of Preppers digging in for the apocalypse on a Saint Marie hillside, when the end comes dramatically early for one of them.

“An impossible killing on a boat takes the team to a beautiful beach under threat, and an apparently straightforward domestic murder twists into what could be Neville’s greatest ever challenge…”

The BBC gained an audience of over 8.8 million for Death in Paradise’s first-ever festive special in 2021, making it the third most-watched show of the festive period (based on all-screens 30+ days figures).

The news of the popular BBC shows new series will please the show’s star Ralf Little, who recently revealed that ‘his life changed forever’ after getting the call to play DI Neville Parker on the hit BBC show.

Taking to Instagram on Wednesday, August 10, the former Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps actor wrote: “28th May 2019. The Cliffs of Moher, Ireland. The next day I got the call to say I’d been cast in @deathinparadiseofficial and my life changed forever.”

He added: “Not a day goes by I don’t appreciate how lucky I am. Appreciate every one of you who watched and took DI Neville Parker into your hearts.”

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